Davy Jones

Originally published in the Britannica Book of the Year. Presented as archival content. Learn more.

This article was originally published in the Britannica Book of the Year, an annual print publication that
provides an overview of the year’s most-notable people and events.
Unlike most articles on Britannica.com, Book of the Year articles are not reviewed and revised after their initial publication.
Rather, they are presented on the site as archival content, intended for historical reference only.

Alternative Titles:
David Jones, David Thomas Jones

Davy Jones, (David Thomas Jones), British actor and singer (born Dec. 30, 1945, Manchester, Eng.—died Feb. 29, 2012, Stuart, Fla.), became an international sensation in the late 1960s as the tambourine-and-maracas-playing front man and lone Englishman in the American pop group the Monkees. Though the foursome—Jones, former child actor Micky Dolenz, and musicians Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork—began as a fictional band created specifically for the American sitcom The Monkees (1966–68), the quartet turned into a genuine pop music phenomenon. Despite a few appearances on the British TV dramaCoronation Street and other shows, the diminutive 1.6-m (5-ft 3-in) Jones quit school in 1961 to train as an apprentice jockey, but he returned to acting and in 1962 joined the cast of the West End musical Oliver! in the role of the Artful Dodger. Jones transferred with the play to Broadway, where in 1963 he received a Tony Award nomination for best featured actor in a musical. Soon after leaving Oliver!, he was cast in The Monkees. Despite criticism of the band as the “pre-Fab Four,” the show’s zany comedy, innovative music videos, and catchy pop tunes earned it an Emmy Award as best comedy in 1967 while Jones’s baby face, English accent, and smooth vocals on such hits as “Daydream Believer,” “A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You,” and “Valleri” brought him heartthrob status among teenage girls. After the cancellation of the TV show and the release of their psychedelic movie Head (1968), some members of the Monkees continued to record and tour together into the early 1970s. Thereafter Jones released several solo albums and two volumes of memoirs (They Made a Monkee out of Me [1987] and Davy Jones, Daydream Believin’ [2000]), acted on TV and the stage, and performed in Monkees reunion tours. He was reportedly at his horse ranch in Indiantown, Fla., when he was stricken with a fatal heart attack.